Michael Gray

Michael Gray (1903-) was the Chief Accountant of Shelby Company Limited and a member of the Peaky Blinders gang.

Biography
Michael Gray was born in Sheffield, England in 1903, the son of Polly Shelby and a river gypsy. His father drowned while drunk, and he and his sister Anna were taken from their mother by the parish after her mother was found to be using opium and getting drunk while having sole custody over her children. Gray was raised by Rosemary Johnson as "Henry Johnson", and he was top of his class in mathematics, took night school courses in accountancy at Worcester College, and came to love horses. At the same time, he came to hate priests after he was abused by one during his youth. Gray lived with his adoptive family until he was 17, when gangster Tommy Shelby (his cousin) convinced his mother to let him visit his biological mother in Small Heath, Birmingham. Gray found the Shelby family's lifestyle interesting, and he rose from being Tommy's driver in 1922 to becoming the chief accountant for the Peaky Blinders gang in 1924. He was thrown in prison after he beat up a man at The Marquis of Lorne pub for being racist against his friend Isaiah Jesus, as well as for the burning-down of the pub shortly after (done by Shelby to protect the family name). His mother allowed for Major Chester Campbell to rape her in exchange for Gray's release, and Gray considered leaving Birmingham before ultimately agreeing to stay and make good money as a gang member. He had an affair with Charlotte Murray which ended when Murray decided to have an abortion, and he later volunteered himself to kill Father Hughes due to his hatred for priests. He was arrested again for Hughes' murder, but Shelby ensured that they were released, using a favor from a politician. Michael was later injured by Changretta crime family hitmen in an attack on his cousin John Shelby's home, in which John was killed. His mother made deals to ensure that he was kept alive until Luca Changretta was killed, and Tommy Shelby sent Gray to America in 1926 to expand the business there.